Chichi no hi Iruka!
by Reidluver
Summary: Means, "Happy Father's Day, Iruka!" While out paying respects to his deceased father, Iruka doesn't expect what is laying in store for him at his own apartment, courtesy of everyone's favorite ninja!


**Hiya! It's me again, presenting to you a touching story in honor of Father's Day! Today's story focuses on the relationship between Naruto and Iruka, while where I believe they have more of a brother/brother relationship, I knew that a story like this had to be told. Iruka is a very special person and without him Naruto would not be the person he is now, and this is my way of honoring him, as well as all the wonderful dads out there! Including mine (if he knew) because he is just so awesome!**

**Sorry that it's not on the correct day-my computer (again) is malfunctioning and the Internet won't work for more than 10minutes every time I shut it down and restart it, so I have to resort to the computer library, which only lets you be on it for an hour per day. Needless to say, I'm a little angry.**

* * *

Iruka wiped his clammy hands on his jounin pants while being mindful of the white rose he held in his right hand. This Sunday morning was crisp, with just a slight breeze in the air that gently carried a few stray leaves along with it. He then took a deep breath before heading out to his destination.

As he neared the Memorial Stone he was greeted by a familiar sight. The silver haired jounin stood in front of the stone, one hand in his pocket and another tightly grasping a white rose. Iruka calmly waited a couple feet away, where Kakashi then turned around and left, never letting the white rose fall.

They both smiled at each other, and as Kakashi passed he placed his free hand on Iruka's shoulder before muttering softly, "Your father was a good man," before walking away, leaving Iruka alone with his thoughts and allowing him the opportunity to walk up to the Memorial Stone. It was the same ritual the two followed this same day every year, and it was comforting to have it.

The base to the stone was already littered in white roses, even at this time in the morning. Many people came to pay their respects to their deceased fathers, and Iruka was one of them. He swallowed the lump in his throat and searched for his father's name. When he did, he bowed down to his knees in respect and muttered his love and then told his father about what had happened in the preceding year.

When he was finished he bowed to the stone again and then tossed the white rose into the already massive pile as he stood back up. Iruka stole a glance at the direction where Kakashi had left, even though he was long gone, and felt a small pang of regret and pity for the jounin. Kakashi always came to the stone with a white rose, as was tradition, but then he always left with it as well, since his father was not deemed a place on the Memorial Stone.

Because of his relationship with Naruto, Iruka was one of the few who was granted the opportunity to hear the story of Kakashi's father straight from the source. The chuunin was furious at how the council would not acknowledge such a hero as Sakumo, but then again, these were the same people who treated Naruto like he was a true demon. In all truthfulness, Iruka vainly wished that something would happen to cause all of them to die.

The chuunin sighed and decided it was time for him to return to his apartment. As he walked through the streets, he felt a pang of sadness as he watched little children smother their fathers with hugs and kisses, which they returned with boisterous chuckles. A few of his students turned and waved at him, their fathers joining in. Iruka put on a fake smile and waved back, his heart yearning all the more for the comfort of his own father.

It's not like he could complain though, there were so many other shinobi children out there who lost at least one parent to shinobi life. There were also many more who lost them to the Kyuubi attack. In the shinobi world, relationships were sacred, because you never knew who would be there the next day.

As he neared the apartment, he noticed with dismay that his door was slightly ajar. Now, the only people who had a key to his apartment were him and the landlord, and he was gone with his own family. _Could it be an intruder or thief? _he wondered. There was no way it could be a fellow shinobi, because rooms were treated with respect since it was one of the few possessions that a shinobi could truly call theirs.

If it was a thief, then it was a very stupid one. Everyone knew that shinobi did not have many possessions, and not valuable ones at that. They didn't even own much money.

And so it was with a frustrated groan that Iruka pulled out a kunai and burst into the room, ready to fling his weapon at any moment, ready for any attack or surprise. Oddly enough, he wasn't ready for what lay in store for him.

* * *

For a second Iruka thought that someone had been horribly murdered in his apartment, because all he could see was red, but once he blinked and tried to clear his head, he noticed that it was just a lot of red roses haphazardly strewn about.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" His head snapped up to notice a blonde streak sprint towards him, and it was all he could do to toss his kunai to the side to make sure he didn't accidentally impale his former student.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Iruka huffed as he tried to untangle himself from the floor.

The blonde gave the chuunin some breathing room before grinning happily and answering, "Happy Father's Day, Iruka-sensei!!"

"Happy Fa—what?" Iruka was deeply confused. He did not know the identity of Naruto's real father, but definitely knew it wasn't him. He was way too young!

"It's Father's Day! Didn't you know that?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"I—I did, but that's—hey! How did you get in here without breaking anything?" Iruka asked to change the subject before he accidentally hurt Naruto's feelings. At least, he _prayed_ nothing was broken.

"It was easy! I just asked your landlord before he left, and he opened it for me and let me in!" the genin said proudly, puffing out his orange chest.

"Really? Well, I uh, like what you did with the place," Iruka said lamely, amazed that Katsu even let the boy in.

The boy beamed. "I had to work really fast because I wasn't sure how long you were going to take. If I had more time, it would have looked better," he said sternly, as if it were almost Iruka's fault for not taking more time.

"Oh well, that means I get to spend more time with _you_," Iruka teased as he ruffled Naruto's hair.

As Naruto chuckled Iruka took some time to inspect his newly "decorated" apartment. Red roses were scattered about in random places, stuffed into various objects that looked like vases, a big "Happy Father's Day" sign that was undoubtedly finger-painted hung limply across the ceiling over the window, and there was a simple meal of instant ramen on his table with slightly crushed and lit candles and the largest arrangement of red roses in the house.

"I think it's time for some lunch!" Iruka announced happily, touched by not only the fact that Naruto made some ramen, but the fact that he was actually waiting longer than the three minutes it took for it to cook, just for him.

As they sat down eagerly for the meal across from each other, Iruka broke apart the chopsticks. "Ita—"

"WAIT!" Naruto protested, his tone worried and frantic. The chuunin glanced up quickly, concerned at the change in his student's manner.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, I—I mean . . . are you supposed to open your present after we eat, o—or before?" Naruto was clearly distraught over this. At Iruka's confused expression, he quickly added sheepishly, "I—it's just that . . . I have no idea wh—what you're supposed to do for this and uh . . . want to do a good job."

Iruka was surprised at how nervous Naruto was acting, and then realized with pity that the poor boy had never celebrated Father's Day before, having been an orphan since the day he was born for all the chuunin knew, so he was obviously doing what he could to make it absolutely perfect and was gathering all his knowledge about what to do on this day from what he probably derived from watching other families.

When he was young, he could remember spying on random families just to see what they were doing and trying to insert himself in and pretend that he was with his own family back before the Kyuubi attack. Naruto obviously did the same.

"It doesn't matter," Iruka grinned. "Whatever _you _plan is what happens, and I'm sure that I could wait until we're done eating."

Naruto beamed before breaking into his ramen ruthlessly, like he did every meal.

"Itadakimasu!"

Once the meal was completed, the two boys sat on Iruka's bed while Naruto held the present he had for his academy teacher behind his back. He thought his teacher couldn't tell, but Naruto was nervous. He had never done this sort of thing before, and he really wanted to make it special for Iruka-sensei, so he didn't want to mess anything up. He had spent two weeks planning everything and eavesdropping on conversations that others had when they were planning what to do for their dads. Of course, he couldn't do exactly what everyone else did, because his budget was limited—just buying all the roses cost most of his spending money!

And so, it was with trepidation that Naruto presented Iruka with his gift. The chuunin smiled warmly as he gently pulled back the wrapping paper, and it turned to one of shock as he discovered what it was.

Laying in his lap amongst the shredded wrapping paper was what appeared to be a big card. The front said, "Happy Father's Day, Iruka!" (drawn by Naruto) and when he opened it, a ticket to Ichiraku's Ramen fell out. Iruka took as a hint to take him out more often and his way to spend more time with the busy chuunin.

After putting the ticket down, he opened the card wider to see the drawing better, and tears came to his eyes as he examined it.

The picture was of two figures who were undoubtedly Iruka and Naruto, holding hands and waving, while standing underneath the Hokage faces, where a new face was added that was obviously Naruto, and it was surrounded in an almost holy beam of light, and the face was grinning with a victory sign next to it. Underneath Naruto had scribbled,

_Thank you so much Iruka-sensei for believing in me! I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you, and I promise that I will become Hokage someday! Love you, Uzumaki Naruto (The Next Hokage!)_

Iruka calmly brushed away the tears and enveloped Naruto in a wide embrace.

"Is it a good present?" the genin asked nervously, afraid of the answer.

"It's perfect," Iruka assured him. "I can't think of anything better." As Naruto practically burst with joy, the chuunin gently placed the card on his nightstand where it could be displayed with joy to all who entered his home.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Iruka inquired as he turned back to face his student.

Naruto grinned sheepishly before responding feebly, "Cou—could we play some games? A—at the park?"

"Sure! We'll play any game you want."

"What types of games do fathers play with their sons?" he asked innocently, knowing full well what they did, having watched from the sidelines on the swings himself. It just felt better asking Iruka.

"Well, how about we start off with Shinobi Catch and go from there?" he suggested. Shinobi Catch was basically like regular catch except each person set up traps for the other and the object of the game was to see if you could catch the ball while dodging the obstacles. It was a local favorite and highly promoted because it helped with so many skills that were essential on the field.

"Hai!" Naruto was elated! He had always watched other people play it, but it took two to play and it wasn't like anyone was really lining up to challenge him. At some points he would create a kage bunshin and challenge him, but then he was playing against himself and it wasn't that difficult. None of the traps could surprise him or his clone.

He had, however, played it once with Jiraiya, and let's just say that some of those traps consisted of creations courtesy of his Sexy Jutsu, and that Jiraiya was helpless before them.

"All right, let's go!" Iruka called out as he snatched a ball he sometimes brought to the Academy.

Several hours later, the pair lay exhausted on the grass, just gazing up at the stars. Well, Iruka was more exhausted than Naruto. There was no _way_ he could keep up with the crazy bundle of energy!

"Want to camp out here tonight?" Iruka suggested. Naruto pounced on him as a response.

"Really?! That would be fun! I'll go have my bunshin go get the stuff," he chattered happily.

"Calm down, I need to make a clone of my own, to make sure you can get in and you don't break anything," he teased as the pair make the proper hand seals.

A little while later, once everything was set up, the two gazed up at the stars again.

"Naruto?"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto mumbled, snuggling closer to Iruka.

"Thanks," he whispered.

Naruto simply smiled and drifted off to sleep. Iruka decided to wait a few minutes and silently thanked Kami that he was granted the honor of knowing the great Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage.

* * *

**There you go! I spent about half an hour on the Internet (when it worked) trying to find something special that the Japanese people do on Father's Day, and finally I found a site that said that while on Mother's Day they do what I explained in my last story, Father's Day doesn't really have any set acitvity or special tradition or anything, so that was a waste of time. It did talk about the usual tie being a popular commodity, but shinobi have absolutely no need for ties, so I kinda just went out on a limb here. **

**I did however, incorporate the tradition (I think it's a universal tradition) that white roses are given to deceased fathers, while red roses are given to fathers who are alive. I would have rather liked to have given Iruka something that had something to do with his name, like I did with Temari, but seeing as how his name means "Dolphin" there wasn't really much I could do with it that wouldn't seem too out of the blue. I decided to fall back on his wonderful artistic ability that he so prominently displayed all over the Hokage's faces when he was first introduced!**

**That's basically it, and right now I'm working on Goblet of Fire so stay tuned!**


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